Construction on University Station could begin later this year

After months of meetings and informational presentations, work will soon begin on the 2 million square-foot site for University Station.

Max Bowen/Staff Writer

After months of meetings and informational presentations, work will soon begin on the 2 million square-foot site for University Station.

Paul Cincotta, vice-president of New England Development, said equipment and trailers will be brought to the site over the next couple of months to begin site preparation work for the first phase of the development. This will include 600,000 square feet of retail and service businesses, 350 residential units, and 16 acres of open space. This portion of the project received approval at the spring Town Meeting. Along with New England Development, National Development and Eastern Real Estate Partnership are the proponents for this project.

Cincotta said the first phase would include moving Rosemont Road, along with all the adjacent utilities, closer to Blue Hill Drive. No homes are on this road.

“Rosemont Road has vacant land on either side of it,” said Cincotta. “It needs to be physically moved, that way it makes room for the residential which will be built and the Wegmens’ which will be built.”

Wegmans, a chain of grocery stores launched in 1916, is one of the two major retail companies which will be part of University Station. Target is the other. Cincotta said the actual construction won’t begin until later this year or early 2014.

“There is a whole lot of work that has to happen before the foundations can be poured,” said Cincotta, adding that site work will be done during normal construction hours.

Information about the construction work, along with a timetable, will be posted to the town’s web site, which has a page for the project. The site preparation work is being done by D.W. White Construction, which has worked with New England Development in the past. Based out of Acushnet, D.W. White has worked on public and private projects, including the Home Depot in Reading and Department of Transportation highway development.

While the original goal was to begin construction in June, Cincotta doesn’t see this new schedule as a delay.

“We would have liked to get out there earlier this month,” said Cincotta. “It took a lot of preparation work to get to this point. It probably took a little longer than we anticipated, but in the big picture, we’re right on target.”

University Station is a revised—and considerably smaller—version of the Westwood Station project, which was first proposed in 2008, and later abandoned due to financial reasons. The 130-acre project will include 650 residential units, 750,000 square feet of retail and restaurants, and 350,000 square feet of office space. The site for University station is situated at the junction of Routes I-95/Route 128 and I-95, and abuts an Amtrak and MBTA Commuter Rail Station.